


people wonder why we're still together

by Lise



Series: Sam and Loki Are Roommates [9]
Category: Supernatural, The Avengers (2012), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Loki's a goddamn mess, Past Character Death, crossposting some shorter bits, drabble per chapter, if kind of weird, loki being a kind of okay person, or more than drabble, sam and loki are still the best roommates, sam being a good person
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-03-28
Updated: 2013-03-27
Packaged: 2017-12-06 17:57:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 795
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/738482
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lise/pseuds/Lise
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A collection of shorter roommates!verse pieces, prompted by various people over on my tumblr. So far, Sam invites his new roommate to join him for a rather significant tradition, and Loki gives Sam a present.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This verse is my baby. It remains my baby. I know there has not been a new installment in a while, but rest assured that there are at least...three full-length installments planned and forthcoming at some point. I am just in a constant state of "drowning in schoolwork and WIPs." 
> 
> Decided, despite my bizarre fear of posting fic under 1000 words, to crosspost these from tumblr. Most of the shorter things I write will remain there, however, as a prize for people who put up with the _rest_ of my tumblr. The tag, for interested parties, is [#sam winchester is not your therapist](http://veliseraptor.tumblr.com/tagged/sam-winchester-is-not-your-therapist) on [veliseraptor.](http://veliseraptor.tumblr.com)
> 
> Enjoy!

“Where are you going?” Loki asked, looking up rather suddenly from his book. Sam felt abruptly self conscious. 

“Um…the theater on seventh does weekly showings of old movies for five bucks? It’s kind of…a thing.” Jess had introduced him to it. Jess had always loved old movies, and she’d gotten Sam into it too, and going now was kind of like…

Yeah, Sam wasn’t going to finish that thought. 

“Ah,” Loki said, and then dropped his gaze back to his book. “Enjoy yourself, I suppose.” 

Sam hesitated. He wasn’t sure why. He still wasn’t sure that this had even been a good idea, that this roommate situation was going to work out or that he could live with this guy at all. But at the same time…he didn’t like it like this. Feeling like they were just circling each other. And Loki never seemed to do anything, didn’t seem to get out or have friends or…

Sam shifted. “Do you like old movies?” 

Loki looked up again. He eyed Sam with that inscrutable gaze, and then shrugged. “I suppose. Some.” There was something peculiar about his expression, and when Sam pinned it down that decided him. Wary. Loki looked wary, like he was expecting Sam to pull some kind of nasty joke or something. 

“Do you want to come with?” Sam asked, and Loki blinked, and there was for just a moment a look of genuine, total surprise on his face. Like he had expected nothing less, and found himself suddenly delighted by the offer, and Sam suddenly wondered why he hadn’t asked before. 

“—would you mind company?” he asked, after a moment. Sam shook his head. Maybe it’d be nice. It wasn’t going with Jess, but-

Jess wouldn’t want him going alone and moping anyways. “No,” he said, not at all.” 

Loki set down the book on the table and just looked at him for a long while. A very faint expression like a smile flickered around his mouth. Then he stood. 

“Let me get my coat,” he said.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Loki gives Sam a gift. Every so often, Sam's roommate is a good deal more sentimental than he likes to pretend to be.

Loki hovering, Sam decided, was one of the worst things in the world. Also one of the weirdest. “You are under no obligation, of course, to _like_ it. It is not even truly your gift - that should be arriving fairly soon. It’s only…”

Sam turned the flat package over in his hands and raised his eyebrows at Loki. “You’re starting to worry me,” he said, mildly. Loki gave him a look that tried to be scathing but seemed to nervous to be. 

“—it was a whimsical notion,” Loki said, “no more than that. Think nothing of it. It might be better if - oh, never mind. Lit Theory calls.” Sam didn’t think he’d ever seen Loki rush out of a room. He didn’t quite do it now, but it was a near thing. 

Sam waited until the door was closed behind him (he knew for a fact Loki’s class didn’t start for forty-five minutes, but he clearly didn’t want to be there when Sam opened…whatever it was) before carefully opening the package. It was just a single sheet of paper inside, and Sam slid it carefully out and found himself looking at a mostly blank sheet. _For Sam, 5/2012, it said._

He flipped it over, and blinked. 

_Oh._

It was a drawing. Inked in black and white. Of Jess. 

He knew the photograph it had been drawn from. It was on his dresser, was a picture of Jess he’d taken at a picnic they’d been on, her head tilted back, smiling just a little, unselfconscious and not quite looking at the camera. The portrait here captured her almost perfectly - with one alteration. Sam was there too. His arm was around Jess’s waist, his head turned toward her, face caught mid-laugh. 

_Five years._

Sam swallowed hard and set the picture down, turning away. His eyes ached, and he rubbed them absently, then looked back at it. 

Another small slip of paper peeked out of the envelope, and after a moment Sam pulled it out and read the short note on it. 

_Sam-_

_I hope you do not mind my borrowing your photograph for this. I am aware that I have, perhaps, overstepped my bounds. You are free to tell me so, as vehemently as you wish - and to do with this picture what you like. Though you talk about her rarely, I am sorry that I never knew Jessica. She sounds like a remarkable woman._

_Happy birthday, Sam. Best, Loki._

Sam sat down and had to cry. Tomorrow, he thought, he’d go find a frame. Put it up on his wall. 

_God, Jess. I wonder if you’d have liked him._

It hurt, but looking at the picture, he still caught himself smiling.


End file.
